10-million Hotel Complex, Park Cleared By U. Macungie

February 08, 1985|by VALERIE HILDEBEITEL, The Morning Call

Development - commercial and recreational - filled the Upper Macungie's supervisors agenda last night as the board granted final and conceptual approval to plans for a $10-million hotel complex and a township park respectively.

Plans for the hotel complex, proposed by Allentown Airport Associates for an 11-acre tract south of the Route 22-Fogelsville interchange, were approved contingent to six requirements.

The most critical of the conditions is the securing of a highway occupancy permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for an entrance on Route 100.

To date, that permit has not been secured although Allentown businessman Charles D. Snelling, owner of the property where the hotel is to be built, has been negotiating with PennDOT for approval.

Snelling has contended the proposal will create substantial problems for development of the tract. He has claimed prospective buyers have canceled contracts, causinghim to lose more than $2 million.

On Tuesday, Snelling and a PennDOT official agreed a compromise was possible, but township supervisor Norman Clowes was not aware of any progress in the negotiations last night.

Other conditions include: approval of sewage disposal and water supply plans by the township and county authorities, review by the Lehigh County Soil Conservation District, improvement agreements and performance guarantees for drainage facilities, ponds and structures needed for discharge erosion and sediment control, and resolution of a zoning conflict involving setback requirements for the hotel.

As a sixth condition, Solicitor William Schantz asked the supervisors to attach a letter detailing sanitary sewer requirements set forth by the township authority.

The proposed hotel will be a 220-room unit incorporating a full-service lounge and restaurant, a 17,000-square-foot meeting room to accommodate 300-400 people, an indoor swimming pool and health club facility.

The developers have not announced a franchise for the operation, but have indicated it will be "one of the top three in the nation."

The supervisors gave conceptual approval to a 15-acre park that would occupy land owned by the Parkland School District at Lone Lane and Schantz Spring Road - possibly one of the most densely developed areas in the township.

Woods surrounding the lot would serve as a natural buffer for residential areas to the north and east area by a woods.

Recreation commission chairman Jerry Weigel and commission member George J. Skawski Jr. explained the facility would include pedestrian and hiking trails, a tot lot, a small court games accommodating basketball, tennis and handball players, and a picnic grove.

Facilities for football, baseball, softball and soccer are also planned but may come at a later time.

The township would develop the site as "tenants of sufferance" Skawski said, meaning the school district could terminate the agreement at will.

He added the district has no immediate plans to build a school on the site, but the site has been planned so that it could be incorporated into a school campus.

The township solicitor will meet with the district's legal counsel to work out details of an agreement to use the tract.